US man facing jail for laughing too loudly

A man from Long Island, New York, is facing up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine after a neighbour complained to police he was laughing too loudly.

US man facing jail for laughing too loudly Photo: ALAMY

6:29AM GMT 07 Mar 2013

Police issued Robert Schiavelli, 41, two tickets for disturbing the peace for laughing out the window of his home in Rockville Centre on Long Island at about 6pm on Feb. 12 and Feb. 13, his lawyer said.

Mr Schiavelli said the neighbour regularly mocks his disability, and the best response to those taunts is laughter.

"He just ridicules me all the time and the only thing I can come up with is laughing," Mr Schiavelli said in a telephone interview.

His lawyer, Andrew Campanelli, said his client has frequent seizures as a result of neurological impairments but denied his laugh is loud or boisterous.